TE REO AT THE AGM (NZ Shareholders Association)
Feb 22, 2018 5:31:29 GMT 12
second-class-citizen likes this
Post by Kiwi Frontline on Feb 22, 2018 5:31:29 GMT 12
This te reo nonsense is spreading everwhere....
Page 21 - MEMBERS’ ISSUES - February 2018
TE REO AT THE AGM (NZ Shareholders Association)
Reporting on the Contact Energy AGM, our reporter Des Hunt observed simply that the introduction to the meeting including a Waiata lasting 15 minutes was not understood by many shareholder participants.
Recently Radio NZ has debated the use of Te Reo in its news programmes. The arguments there are similar to those expressed by shareholders. Don Brash put it simply: If the purpose of Radio New Zealand is to communicate with listeners why exclude 98% of them at the outset? Similarly, if the purpose of a shareholders meeting is to involve shareholder owners, why begin their AGM by excluding most of them?
Most of those present are happy with our distinctive Maori greetings, but would not agree to spending valuable time in a language which is not used in their everyday commerce. Inflicting extended Maori cultural practice in Te Reo on a business meeting is contrived and wasteful, when English is the language of all their daily interactions.
Against this is Dame Susan Devoy’s emphatic rejoinder: This is New Zealand – Aotearoa NZ – so get used to it….. It is 30 years since Te Reo was made an official language.
Advocates of Te Reo say that we must move on from the official language, to normalising it outside the recognised Maori context. Just as in radio, the banter between announcers often uses more time than the use of Maori language, so the irrelevant banter between directors and shareholders often takes up more time than a simple Waiata at the beginning of a meeting.
We have heard no criticism of the use of Maori greetings and meeting closures, nor would there be any resistance to a clear explanation by the directors of the importance of the relationship between a Maori whanau or tribal group and the company, which uses the shared resources of our land and water.
However, if the explanation has to be in Te Reo, then it will not be clear to most shareholders, and some interpretation is in order.
It is a matter of degree, and it does affect the fundamental purpose of a shareholders meeting under the NZX rules. We are interested in members’ views on this.
Alan Best
The Script’s link:
www.nzshareholders.co.nz/pdf/newsletters/Scrip%20February%2018%20web.pdf
Page 21 - MEMBERS’ ISSUES - February 2018
TE REO AT THE AGM (NZ Shareholders Association)
Reporting on the Contact Energy AGM, our reporter Des Hunt observed simply that the introduction to the meeting including a Waiata lasting 15 minutes was not understood by many shareholder participants.
Recently Radio NZ has debated the use of Te Reo in its news programmes. The arguments there are similar to those expressed by shareholders. Don Brash put it simply: If the purpose of Radio New Zealand is to communicate with listeners why exclude 98% of them at the outset? Similarly, if the purpose of a shareholders meeting is to involve shareholder owners, why begin their AGM by excluding most of them?
Most of those present are happy with our distinctive Maori greetings, but would not agree to spending valuable time in a language which is not used in their everyday commerce. Inflicting extended Maori cultural practice in Te Reo on a business meeting is contrived and wasteful, when English is the language of all their daily interactions.
Against this is Dame Susan Devoy’s emphatic rejoinder: This is New Zealand – Aotearoa NZ – so get used to it….. It is 30 years since Te Reo was made an official language.
Advocates of Te Reo say that we must move on from the official language, to normalising it outside the recognised Maori context. Just as in radio, the banter between announcers often uses more time than the use of Maori language, so the irrelevant banter between directors and shareholders often takes up more time than a simple Waiata at the beginning of a meeting.
We have heard no criticism of the use of Maori greetings and meeting closures, nor would there be any resistance to a clear explanation by the directors of the importance of the relationship between a Maori whanau or tribal group and the company, which uses the shared resources of our land and water.
However, if the explanation has to be in Te Reo, then it will not be clear to most shareholders, and some interpretation is in order.
It is a matter of degree, and it does affect the fundamental purpose of a shareholders meeting under the NZX rules. We are interested in members’ views on this.
Alan Best
The Script’s link:
www.nzshareholders.co.nz/pdf/newsletters/Scrip%20February%2018%20web.pdf